Browsing: nfl

One Air Force officer is hoping hours in the gym each day could mean a trip to the NFL Combine — and the revival of a dream to play pro ball. Aaron Kirchoff, a 2009 graduate of the Academy, is a second lieutenant with the 50th Comptroller Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo. He said the idea of playing in the NFL after school “wasn’t even a question. You weren’t even asked if you were training for the combine.” But watching a couple of a former teammate surviving the cut in the NFL made Kirchoff think big. Chad Hall,…

Service academy products Chad Hall (Air Force) and Caleb Campbell (West Point) saw the turk on Saturday, and they had to bring their playbooks — Hall (cut by the Eagles) and Campbell (cut by the Lions) were sliced as teams reduced their rosters to meet the NFL’s 53-man roster mandate by today. And according to the Twitter realm, it looks like both will end up on the practice squads of the teams that cut them. Reporter Adam Caplan claims that the Eagles would like to put Hall on their practice squad. Campbell, a seventh-round pick by Detroit in 2008, tweeted…

Air Force Lt. Chad Hall had unspectacular performance for the Philadelphia Eagles during their 20-17 win against Kansas City on Friday. It’s the second preseason game in a row in which Hall has failed to stand out, bad news for a player considered to be a longshot to make the Eagles 53-man roster. Hall had no catches in the game against the Chiefs, and just five yards on two punt returns. A week ago against Cincinnati, Hall had two catches for only nine yards. And after getting two carries as a running back in the Eagles first preseason game, Hall…

Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Reggie Lownde holds a Cobra helicopter tail rotor, painted in Washington Redskins colors, for Redskins quarterback Donovan McNabb to sign Wednesday after the team’s training camp practice at Redskins Park in Ashburn, Va. Lownde is stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C. There’s picture of the front of the blade here. According to TBD.com, Lownde asked to keep the rotor from an AH-1 after it was destined for the scrap yard in Iraq. A fellow Marine painted in Redskins colors, and this week he made the trip to Redskins camp to get it autographed.

Air Force Lt. Chad Hall is still a long way from making the Philadelphia Eagles 53-man regular season roster. But he’s a lot closer than he was last week. The undrafted free agent put together a strong performance in Friday’s preseason victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, making big plays at multiple positions. Hall was so impressive that could very well be turning into one those determined underdogs (think Vince Papale) who endears himself to a city, judging by weekend headlines in some Philadelphia-area papers: “Free agent Chad Hall steals the show in Eagles first exhibition game” “Air Force veteran Chad…

Barring some unforeseen disaster, Army 1st Lt. Caleb Campbell will play his first NFL game when he runs out onto the field Saturday for the Detroit Lion’s first preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s a huge step for a guy that spent the last two years on active duty in the Army and far, far away from the world of professional football. Campbell did a few interviews recently where he said he kept his distance by choice. While the former 7th-round draft pick had no say in his NFL dream being abruptly put on hold by the Army in…

For those who have wondered where former Army football coach Bob Sutton ended up after he left West Point, you can watch him Wednesday nights on HBO. Sutton has served as the defense coordinator or linebackers coach on the New York Jets after he left Army’s football team in 2000. This summer he stars along foul-mouthed head coach Rex Ryan on HBO’s NFL training camp reality series “Hard Knocks.” Sutton doesn’t have the memorable lines that Ryan delivered on the series premiere and he doesn’t receive the same spotlight as Darrelle Revis’ contract dispute, but it’s good to see the…

Anyone who follows Navy football knows that New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick loves to give talented Midshipmen a shot at the NFL. Belichick’s father coached and worked as a scout at Navy for many years, and the younger Belichick has signed a handful of Navy grads and kept them on the team using the NFL’s reserve/military. As far as I can see, the rules for list aren’t spelled out anywhere online, so it never fails to confuse folks. So here’s a very basic description of how it works from Patriots.com by Patriots Football Weekly writer Andy Hart: Can U…

Air Force Academy defensive end Ben Garland watched the NFL Draft with a hope, but not an expectation to get a call from an NFL team. Names kept running across the bottom of the screen of ESPN’s draft coverage when Garland’s phone starting ringing. The Denver Broncos asked if he wanted to go to their mini-camp. Garland never expected to garner any NFL interest. Not until the Air Force Academy’s strength and conditioning coach approached him after the Falcons’ bowl game had anyone ever mentioned it. It’s not that Garland didn’t have the type of standout senior year that leads…

[HTML1] Marine Lt. Denver Edick wanted to surprise his wife, who happens to be a Redskins cheerleader (Ooh-Rah Marine!), upon his return from a deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan at a Redskins cheerleading practice. So he called a local TV affiliate to catch the reunion on camera. Nice story, right? Most teams would love the free publicity of a Marine surprising his cheerleader wife. Well, the Redskins are not most teams. Full disclosure: I am a Redskins season ticket holder and remain a die-hard fan even though they seem to do everything in their power to push fans like myself…